Get Our Email Newsletter

This content is made possible by our sponsors. Click here to learn more.

Diving with Great White Sharks Takes LP Legacy Sub-Floor Testing to the Next Level

Extreme product testing showcases LP’s commitment to provide proof of performance for its products that goes above and beyond

During a memorable week last summer, a team of extreme adventure videographers and LP product experts joined Captain Spencer Salmon and his crew aboard the MV Horizon in San Diego, and embarked on a twenty-two-hour boat ride to Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Mexico, a dive destination famous for the number and size of great white sharks that circle the island’s coast. The purpose of the expedition was to submit LP Legacy premium sub-flooring to the ultimate performance test by building a shark cage and immersing it in the ocean. Largely constructed of LP Legacy sub-flooring, the cage served as the only protection for the courageous divers who volunteered to go into the water with the great white sharks. The crew members and LP experts took turns lowering themselves into the shark cage set in the deep blue waters of the Pacific, to brave one of the most feared predators in the animal world.

LP Legacy sub-flooring is APA-rated and one of the stiffest and strongest sub-floor panels in the industry. Packed with more resin, wax, and wood strands and made with Gorilla Glue Technology, the sub-floor boasts superior moisture resistance that helps prevent edge swell. It carries a class-leading Covered Until It’s Covered no-sand warranty, as well as a Lifetime Limited Warranty that lasts as long as the home.

“Since the launch of LP Legacy in late 2017, more and more builders have converted to it,“ says Kelly Harmon, LP’s Product Manager OSB/EWP. “They are recognizing the superior product attributes that this campaign demonstrates: unparalleled strength and performance. Diving with great white sharks protected only by a cage largely constructed of engineered wood is definitely not for the faint of heart and requires a lot of confidence in the product. And it didn’t disappoint! “

 

The shark cage was immersed in the Pacific Ocean for a total of 28 hours, during which time 23 sharks were sighted—the largest one weighing close to 2,500 pounds of solid muscle.

“When I took this job, I never pictured myself going diving with great white sharks in a shark cage made of LP Legacy – but I did,” says Marcelle Lacy, LP’s Senior Corporate Brand Manager OSB/EWP. “Relying on it to keep me safe while diving with sharks has definitely boosted my level of confidence in the product even more. The most difficult conditions on a jobsite can’t beat this challenge. The product performed remarkably.”

The expedition was the third in LP’s Tested Extreme campaign, designed to demonstrate LP Legacy sub-flooring’s performance in difficult situations that go well beyond the demands of a typical jobsite. LP’s product developers wanted to go further than standard testing, pushing the panels to their limits and showing their performance in a completely different way.

In the first expedition, the panels were handed over to extreme athletes and tested in a remote forest north of Vancouver under exceptionally harsh weather conditions. The sub-floor panels were sent over a series of waterfalls totaling a 70-feet drop and flowing at 625 cubic feet per second, and then left to soak in the wake overnight. Twenty-four hours later, when the team retrieved the board from the river, the panel showed some bumps and bruises but no signs of swelling.

In the second Tested Extreme expedition in a muddy British Columbia rainforest, pro mountain bikers built ramps using LP Legacy panels, then showed no mercy as they rode, jumped, and pounded through a torrential storm, leaping from and landing on the panels more than 50 times. Despite the continual pounding and the rainy conditions, the panels did not crack and showed no signs of swelling.

What does going to extreme lengths mean? It’s simple: If the panels can withstand these extremes, it’s easy to see how they’ll stand up to tough jobsite conditions.

“I think ultimately what builders want in a panel is to never have to deal with it after installation. It doesn’t give them any issues initially in the build, through the construction phase, and while the finished flooring is going down,” says Brian St. Germain, LP’s Director of Business Quality & Technology. “To withstand all the rigors of building and still end up where they don’t have to think about it after it’s installed, that requires a tough panel, and that’s what we designed.”

Watch the divers and the shark cage in action as well as the videos from the first two expeditions and behind-the-scenes footage from all three: www.testedextreme.com.*

The wood strands of LP Legacy engineered sub-floor are coated with advanced water-resistant resins using Gorilla Glue Technology, resulting in superior moisture resistance that prevents edge swell. So much so that the panels come with a Covered Until It’s Covered® no-sand warranty, the best in the industry, as well as a Lifetime Limited Warranty that lasts as long as the home. The same adhesive technology that makes Gorilla Glue ideal for The Toughest Jobs on Planet Earth also helps make LP Legacy the stiffest and one of the strongest sub-floors you can buy.

Packed with more resin, wax, and wood fiber, LP Legacy panels have a higher density ideal for use under hardwood floors and tile. The combination of strength, stiffness, and density contributes to better fastener holding and less deflection, for a more solid feel underfoot and less likelihood for nail pops and movement.

LP Legacy is another example of LP’s growing specialty product selection designed to meet the growing demands for better engineered building solutions, as well as creating distinct value for customers. To learn more about LP Legacy and for complete warranty details, visit www.LPCorp.com/Legacy.

*Dramatization. LP Legacy is for interior sub-floor applications only and is not designed for unprotected exterior use as shown.

Registration is now open for the LBM Strategies 2024 Conference